The women’s tour kicked off October 27-30 in Brooklyn, NY, with world No. 1’s Kayley Leonard & Maria Elena Ubina capturing the first title of the season at the inaugural Heights Casino Open.
Leonard & Ubina opened up their tournament with a 3-0 win over Nayelly de Hernandez-Walker & Sarahi Lopez Dominguez to set up a semifinal against three seeds Suzie Pierrepont & Meredeth Quick. Leonard & Ubina earned an early advantage in the semis, taking the first two games 15-7, 15-9, before Pierrepont & Quick began a comeback, winning the third 15-8. The semifinal ended in unfortunate circumstances as Pierrepont sustained a knee injury midway through the fourth game, forcing an immediate retirement and pushing Leonard & Ubina through to the final.
In the bottom half of the draw, two seeds Elani & Lume Landman progressed to the final without dropping a game, including a 15-6, 15-13, 15-13 win over four seeds Victoria Simmonds & Julie Cerullo in the semifinal.
In the Sunday final, Leonard & Ubina prevailed in three games, 15-11, 15-6, 15-13, to win the inaugural Heights Casino Open title.
The 2022 Heights Casino Open was the first professional women’s doubles event to take place at the Heights Casino, and players performed in front of a sold-out crowd.
“It’s awesome to be here,” Leonard said. “We grew up playing here, there are lots of familiar faces–so great to have the packed stands. Thank you to [Jim] Bamber for organizing this great tournament, but also thank you of course to all the members, this wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for you guys. It’s always fun to play the twins, we’ve had some battles and I’m sure we’ll have a lot more. It’s great to be back, so thank you.”